SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRITLSH SEAS 



39 



hardy tribes in the neighbourhood of Behring Strait Hterally cannot exist 

 without the Walrus, and so long as they were its only human enemies the 

 number destroyed was inconsiderable. But the herds soon dwindled under 

 the superior weapons and appliances of civilised nations, and the survivors 

 retreated, like the Whales, towards the Pole. By the end of last season, not 



Fig. 9. Head of Walrus (Modified after Murie). 



a single Walrus was left on the coast, and the immediate result was such a 

 terrible famine among the natives that the whalers themselves speak of it 

 remorsefully. The population north of St. Lawrence Bay has been reduced 

 by one-third ; and in a village which formerly contained 200 inhabitants, only 



